Lending Club now offers five-year peer-to-peer loans

For borrowers who are looking for a personal loan, but don't qualify for the best rates at their local bank, peer-to-peer lending might be a good solution. Recently Lending Club expanded its personal loan offering by providing 5 year personal loans to borrowers and investors.

"Sixty-month loans allow sound borrowers to manage monthly payments more comfortably with the great interest rates of our peer loans." said Rob Garcia, Sr. Director of Product Strategy with Lending Club in an email to WalletPop.The new five-year loans carry a higher interest rate than the three-year loans that Lending Club has been offering, but as Rob points out it; the longer loan period will help borrowers looking for a lower rate on unsecured personal loan. If you can make the monthly payments on the shorter three-year peer-to-peer loan, then I suggest you do, but it is nice to see another option for borrowers looking to refinance credit card or other high interest rate debt.

In addition to offering a longer borrowing period, the new five-year loans are good news for Lending Club investors who will benefit from an extra yield on B - G graded notes and also receive a lower annual service charge on a five-year loan.